After World War II, the compound DDT largely annihilated bedbugs in the United States of America and many Western countries, although bedbugs continued to flourish in other countries. The banning of DDT coupled with the growth of international travel resulted in a resurgence of bedbugs and they are now commonly found throughout the United States. Typically, bedbugs feed on humans, and when not doing so they hide in tiny crevices in or near beds or other locations which humans frequent.
The “hitch-hiking” bedbug has become a perpetual concern, in some cases even a nightmare for the hospitality industry. Almost every country in the world is now dealing with bedbugs. The bedbug can be easily transported from one location or country to another by a human host or even in personal belongings such as luggage. Thus, while pest inspections can declare a room to be clear today, the bedbug can transplant itself tomorrow and the hotel or other facility is open to yet another complaint, loss of revenue and undesirable publicity. There was a 300% increase in complaints in 2010 alone. The detection devices described herein (including the Night Stick™ manufactured and sold by Deverex, Inc.) drastically cut the number of outbreaks within a year by detecting, and in many cases capturing, the transplanted bedbugs.
To date, efforts to combat bedbugs have focused on reactive measures aimed at treating the problem, however in the hotel/hospitality industry proactive measures are becoming vital for the protection of goodwill and reputation. Bedbug detection devices have the potential to alert hotel staff, managers and professional exterminators to the presence of bedbugs in the very early stages of an infestation, while they are still confined to a single room or suite. Furthermore, without a reliable means for verification, accusations of bedbugs by a disgruntled guest can instantly damage a reputation and compromise future reservations for a hotel or other lodging facility. Therefore, the hospitality industry must be proactive in detecting and recording bedbug activity and not merely react to a guest's complaint.
In the extermination industry various methods and technologies have been employed to remediate bedbug infestations. However, the prominent fault of existing eradication methods for bedbugs has been in the lack of any systematic means to detect the presence of even a single bedbug or to monitor infestation levels and areas of infestation prior to, during, and after treatment. Bedbugs are frequently found in dwellings in the hospitality industry due to a high rate of occupant turnover which leads to frequent opportunities to transplant a bedbug into an uninfested location, whereby each and every new guest has the potential of being bitten or even bringing bedbugs into their luggage or clothes. Without an acute awareness and an intervention plan, a single bedbug brought in by a guest can create a colony within weeks as one female can lay up to 500 eggs, each of which are no larger than a spec of dust.
Conventionally, a large tacky material or surface is associated with an attractant such as heat, carbon dioxide (CO2), methanol, octenol, glycerin kairomone or others to artificially lure a bedbug onto the tacky material and immobilize the bug. While this method has proven to be relatively effective it suffers from several limitations. It is a common belief that the most effective lure is an actual human. Therefore, synthetic attractants are not clearly effective. Also, it should be noted that the production of sufficient and sustained heat and/or CO2 as an attractant in a hotel room presents a significant logistical challenge where a large number of suites are involved. Additionally, the use of aromatic agents as attractants in hotel rooms exposes the guests to the scent, as well as possible exposure, or even ingestion of the chemical by a juvenile. In regard to the exposed and unprotected tacky material, over a short time, it attracts and acquires dirt and lint particles that significantly reduce the surface tenacity and retention capabilities. Furthermore, non-curing adhesives and attractants require frequent renewal as they vaporize.
Notoriously difficult to locate, bedbugs hide or take “harbor” in tiny cracks and crevices on and near beds and similar sleeping areas in order to be near their food supply. When in need of sustenance they venture out from their harbor at night or in the dark to seek out a human. In doing so they travel along bed posts and rails adjacent sleeping surfaces such as mattresses, box springs and the like in search of the source of human body heat and expelled carbon dioxide that serves as a road map to their prey. Conventional wisdom suggests that in order to catch and kill a bedbug one only needs to lure them into a sticky trapping device by means of an attractant. However, in some cases this may prove to be counterproductive. For example, in a situation where previously there were no bugs, an attractant, may even provoke a transient bedbug, harbored within the luggage of a guest, to seek out the attractant and adopt the hotel room or dwelling as its new residence. Furthermore, traps using attractants may have a tendency to draw in bedbugs from surrounding areas, thus expanding their area of infestation. One embodiment of the devices disclosed herein teaches the use of attractants when bedbugs are known to be present, and may not necessarily support their use when proactively monitoring or detecting an introduction of bedbugs.
Recognizing the potential problem with the use of conventional bug traps having an attractant, the disclosed embodiments provide a means to detect and thereby create a visual “record” of the presence of bedbugs without necessarily using an artificial luring agent that has a tendency to disrupt their customary routine. The various embodiments described herein provide a detection device that is intended to be routinely inspected or observed by housekeeping or other staff in the hospitality trade in order to enable the early detection of the presence and movement of bedbugs.
The disclosed embodiments further enable the reliable monitoring of bedbug activity in locations that require little to no overhead, and many of the embodiments are intended to be virtually transparent to the guests. In other words, several embodiments are not apparent to an occupant of the room or area in which they are used, yet are readily accessible to the housekeeping staff in order to be checked or inspected on an ongoing and periodic basis. Although primarily discussed herein as a commercial means to detect the presence of bedbugs in a hotel or similar facility in the hospitality industry (e.g., dormitories, hotels, motels, apartment buildings, cruise ships, conference centers, camps, etc.), it will be appreciated that some or all of the aspects of the disclosed embodiments may be employed within a household, in other commercial or retail businesses (e.g., apparel and footwear stores) and other locations as well. Accordingly, it is one object of the disclosed embodiments to reliably detect the presence of bedbugs.
Disclosed in embodiments herein is a detection device, comprising: a longitudinal strip of material, having opposed front and rear surfaces and a plurality of apertures extending through the material and the front and rear surfaces; and an elongated adhesive strip having front and rear faces, where the front face of said adhesive strip includes a coating of non-drying adhesive; said adhesive strip attached to and generally spanning the length of the rear surface of the longitudinal strip, thereby exposing said adhesive through the apertures in the longitudinal strip. In one embodiment the detection device may be deployed along the perimeter of a bed, for example, along the sides or rails of a support for a box spring mattress.
Also disclosed herein is a method for detecting the presence of bedbugs, including: placing a bedbug detection device along at least part of a periphery of a sleeping surface; and regularly inspecting the detection device for the presence of at least one indicator selected from the group consisting of: bedbugs, bedbug eggs, bedbug fecal matter, bedbug skin and bedbug shells.
The various embodiments described herein are not intended to limit the disclosure to those embodiments described. On the contrary, the intent is to cover all alternatives, modifications, and equivalents as may be included within the spirit and scope of the various embodiments and equivalents thereof.
The embodiments described herein are not intended to limit the systems or methods to those embodiments described. On the contrary, the intent is to cover all alternatives, modifications and equivalents as may be included within the spirit and scope of the disclosure and the devices and methods set forth therein.